Moody's downgrades Nokia's credit rating

PanARMENIAN.Net - Moody's ratings agency on Friday, June 15 downgraded Nokia's debt grade to junk status, citing greater than anticipated pressure on the struggling cellphone maker's earnings after it announced plans for major cuts and global layoffs. It kept the outlook negative, meaning it could downgrade it again, The Associated Press reported.

The agency lowered the Finnish company's long-term senior unsecured ratings to Ba1 from Baa3, saying that Nokia's restructuring plan involved "drastically downsizing its infrastructure," an indication its problems were greater than expected.

Moody's said Nokia Corp.'s plans to focus "its direct marketing on fewer markets, streamlining support functions and reducing investments in certain R&D projects ... delineates a scale of earnings pressure and cash consumption that is larger than we had previously assumed."

The agency's downgrade, the second in two months, came after Nokia stock plunged 18 percent on Thursday following its announcement to close production and research plants, with 10,000 job cuts by the end of 2013. Nokia also sounded pessimistic about its outlook, saying that heavy competition would continue to hit its smartphone sector in the second and third quarters more than previously expected.

The measures were aimed at additional cost savings of €1.6 billion ($2 billion) by the end of next year, in addition to last year's announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs to save €1 billion by 2013.